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Post by clarinman on Aug 20, 2021 21:04:41 GMT
Crazy statement, Keegan has been the best player. Lots of people don’t rate o Shea at all so not sure if he is the most overrated player. It still seems like people don’t know his best position which is crazy after all these years. Lee Keegan, Cillian O'Connor, Andy Moran, Paddy Durcan, Keith Higgins have all been more influential players than O'Shea. There's probably one or two more you could add to the list. Gooch was buying into the narrative too on Sunday evening. For me Keegan was the best. Boyle has not been mentioned. He was some warrior over the years.
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Post by colinsworth1 on Aug 20, 2021 22:36:40 GMT
I still believe 14 is the only position Aidan O Shea can play now He can still contribute Amazingly mayo sent him out to play full forward knowing that he’s zero confidence to take a shot nor a step forward even from 14 yards He can still win good possession up front he incredibly dosent want to gun for goal or point from close in . He won at least three top quality possession in the last game he done the hard part just froze after the catch With a month to go and some specialized coaching he’d be a contender .
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Post by colinsworth1 on Aug 20, 2021 23:00:46 GMT
I still believe 14 is the only position Aidan O Shea can play now He can still contribute Amazingly mayo sent him out to play full forward knowing that he’s zero confidence to take a shot nor a step forward even from 14 yards He can still win good possession up front he incredibly dosent want to gun for goal or point from close in . He won at least three top quality possession in the last game he done the hard part just froze after the catch With a month to go and some specialized coaching he’d be a contender . He was taken off the last day because his shooting confidence was gone head fried. That or else he simply didn’t hold his position at 14 and refused to follow instructions Conroy and o Donoghue as precocious as they are may not be enough to get the 20 or so points that’s they’ll need Mayo haven’t played an orthodox 14 for a long time I always felt Cillian o Conor played to far from goals and wasn’t a true poaching full forward.
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kerryexile
Fanatical Member
Whether you believe that you can, or that you can't, you are right anyway.
Posts: 1,119
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Post by kerryexile on Aug 20, 2021 23:40:43 GMT
Dublin have been at it for years and I have pointed it out umpteen times. Below is a post I put up before the 2017 AI Final between the same two counties. Below that also is a link to a video of the same John Small, true to form showing us how its done. Surprised that Small's track record is not highlighted more in the current debate. Sep 15, 2017 at 10:49pm EditlikePost OptionsPost by kerryexile on Sep 15, 2017 at 10:49pm I find it impossible to call the final on Sunday. I don’t think it will be a classic – it will be a series of well rehearsed drills, most initiated by kickouts. There won't be more than a few points in it in the end.
Dublin have a few tactics for winning possession from the opposition. One is to literally throw their body at the player in possession, sometimes recklessly. The ball is invariably coughed up.
Your second sentence was completely wrong. It was a classic........history is written by the winners........for that very reason Dublin are struggling with the narrative this week, they were the losers.
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Post by Mickmack on Aug 21, 2021 12:22:04 GMT
Premium
Frank Roche March 06 2021 02:30 AM Two memories from the life and times of a recently retired Mayo midfielder that encapsulate the epic journey undertaken, not just by Tom Parsons the footballer but by Tom Parsons the man.
The first, from September 2012, came during what you might call ‘the lost years’. There were 82,269 spectators in Croke Park to watch Donegal and Mayo do battle for Sam Maguire; Parsons was one of them.
In the first 11 minutes, Michael Murphy and Colm McFadden plundered two match-defining goals, right in front of him.
“I was in the Hill with the Mayo headband around my neck,” he recalls, “and with mixed emotions that I wasn’t playing. I knew in my heart. Most of that team I had previously captained at U-21 level … could I have added a few per cent to help that team get over the line?
“Emotionally, it did kind of rock me. I’ll never forget that game. You had a few Donegal supporters behind me saying, ‘Hey Parsons, what are you doing up here? Should you not be out there?’ Laughing.
“There’s a bit of guilt. You think have I not done my best to be there, to support my team-mates? I left that game and I was catching a flight back to Wales that evening, so it was a lonely space.”
Fast-forward almost seven years: it’s July 2019, on the cusp of the Super 8s, and the near-deserted east Mayo setting couldn’t be further removed from Croke Park. Fourteen months on from a knee injury that belonged more to a scene of road traffic carnage than MacHale Park, Parsons is about to take one of the most important steps on the road to recovery.
ADVERTISEMENT “I had done most of my work away from the team, on my own, because I didn’t want that external pressure or the rumours to say, ‘Oh, Tom isn’t running right’ or, ‘He’s nearly back’, whatever,” he explains.
“I remember my first training (session) back, I was going from nearly zero to a hundred. They said, right, Tom is allowed to play the games but it’s light contact so put a blue bib on … I went back in Tooreen and trained for the full 60 minutes.
“I think the first ball was thrown up and I jumped for it and collided with Fionn McDonagh – and broke his jaw. And I was thinking, ‘What have I done? I’ve just taken out one of our best players.’
“But what was amazing was, I didn’t pull out of anything, and at the end of that training we were sitting in a huddle … and I was just on cloud nine. I couldn’t believe it. And everyone else – I just knew by the way they looked at me, with nearly disbelief.
“Andy Moran then stood up and he said, ‘Lads, can we just acknowledge what Tom has done here?’ And the team clapped. Getting that sense of respect from your team-mates, that’s what meant the world to me. And that’s what gave me goosebumps.”
January was a month like no other for a Mayo dressing-room caught between eras. Six Mayo veterans called time on their county obsession; Parsons was third in the queue.
For all manner of reasons “it was time” to go, he explains, citing age (he turned 33 in February), family life with wife Carol and their 18-month-old son Matthew, all those hours away from his Tallaght home, throw in the challenges of Covid, and then a desire to “finish on your own terms before people start saying, ‘Oh Tom, you’re finished.’”
ADVERTISEMENT The Charlestown native has no Celtic Cross but no regrets either. How could there be when your career almost reads like a metaphor for resilience?
Most people will cite that horrific knee injury in 2018 but, for Parsons, the bigger challenge had come much earlier. It could have gone either way, he acknowledges; when he was released from James Horan’s panel in April 2011, that might have been the end of it.
“That setback, to me at the time, seemed insurmountable,” he reveals. “I had played with Mayo since I was 19, I had represented Ireland, our club had won a county title (in 2009) … I honestly believed at that stage there was no way back for me, it’s over.”
He was only 23 but would end up missing three championships just as Mayo emerged from the nadir of 2010 (losing to Sligo and Longford) to become serial contenders.
A chronic groin injury combined with a poor run of form had left him on the scrapheap.
His story reads like a salutary lesson for every young county player pulled in multiple directions: he made his SFC debut in 2008, played International Rules that year, he had been Mayo U-21 captain, played Freshers and Sigerson in his first year at Sligo IT, was playing senior club and U-21 with Charlestown.
“I tallied up seven different teams, and for every manager at the time, every competition was the most important competition in the world. I think I had played 36 months in a row without a month’s break,” he says.
ADVERTISEMENT “My whole self-esteem revolved around being Tom Parsons the Gaelic footballer, not Tom Parsons the family man or the husband or the engineer. Then, when that was all taken away from you, there was a lot of hurt and frustration to say that, ‘Jesus, Mister GAA, you’ve just rode me here for four years’.
“That’s why all this work with fixtures is so important,” he adds, leaping back into the present, “that players and particularly younger players have that ‘down time’ which would protect them.”
As bad luck would have it, his graduation as a civil engineer dovetailed with the downturn. He stayed in college, taking a Master’s in energy. “So, in 2012, I had a year where I was playing Sigerson football with DIT but working in a bar at the weekend, reminiscing on, ‘I should be out there playing with Mayo.’”
Enter the Gaelic Players Association. Today Parsons is chairman of the GPA’s national executive committee; you get a clear sense that his commitment stems from that period.
“A lot of players don’t get a second chance,” he explains. “That’s why I’m passionate about the work that I do with the GPA, because in my darkest hours – not when I was a high-profile player – the GPA really did help me get back on my feet. I remember at the time, reaching out, they had sourced me a career coach and a life coach – and helped me secure an amazing position with Jacobs who are a Fortune 500 company. I had a life coach who helped me rebuild relationships and gave me that small bit of guidance to bounce back.
“If there’s one message I’d love to get out is that success won’t come on the pitch if you’re failing off the pitch. And that’s a lesson I learned early, because I focussed so much on my performance on the pitch and I let other things, in my early 20s, maybe fall asunder.
“And I include failing exams, not connecting with people, my relationships – they were all secondary. And what’s interesting is, my performance dropped as well.
ADVERTISEMENT “But when I came back in 2014, because I had more success in other aspects of life, (a) my self-worth and self-belief increased; I felt more free to play; I was happy in myself; I wasn’t defined by my performance on the football pitch.”
Back in 2012, his fledgling career as an engineer had taken him to Cardiff. There he engaged in other sports, athletics and boxing, and moved in with Carol, a Dublin native.
“Over 24 months I started seeing value in myself away from football. But equally I flew home 13 weekends in a row to play intermediate football with Charlestown … it was like a ten-hour trip to get home and people in Wales were thinking, ‘What are you doing?’ But I was really passionate (about my club) and then in 2014 I got a call to come back with Mayo and I was just a different player.”
And yet, when Horan dangled the carrot, it wasn’t a risk-free choice. Three years earlier, he had made a “verbal commitment” to his parents that he would return and play for Mayo.
But his tentative comeback in the spring of 2014 was disrupted by a punctured lung, reducing his league opportunities to impress. Jetting over and back from Wales was not a viable long-term option; he started making arrangements with Jacobs to move to their Dublin office.
All of this was happening before he had even nailed down his place on the championship panel. He told Carol a premature white lie that he had already made the squad; he can remember the pressure of a late 2014 league game that was “essentially a trial for me and I had to perform”.
Even if his first summer back was again injury-interrupted, Parsons was now a different man.
ADVERTISEMENT “I think people could see that grit, that energy,” he says. “That real want and drive and hunger to play. It was something maybe I didn’t have in 2011.”
As his county pushed Dublin to the brink in 2015 (two semi-finals), 2016 (two finals) and 2017 (another All-Ireland, and the high point of a coruscating rivalry), Mayo’s erstwhile forgotten soldier was now their main midfield man. Until that fateful May Sunday in 2018.
“It was just horrendous. I’ll never forget the pain,” he recalls of the moment his left knee contorted against Galway in Castlebar. So much so that when Carol gave birth to Matthew and referenced the severity of her labour pains, he made the fatal mistake of all new fathers and said: “I know the feeling, I’ve been there!”
If the photos of that split-second are enough to make you wince, Parsons’ matter-of-fact description of the damage is almost as chilling.
“The initial surgery was in Mayo General Hospital to reposition the leg. Then there was a worry that I needed to see a vascular specialist team, so they rushed me to Galway University Hospital to get a CT (scan) and check the vascular piece, that I wasn’t going to lose that function of the leg,” he says.
He remembers one medic doing his rounds and reading his chart. “You won’t be running again,” he intoned. “This is the equivalent of a car crash injury.”
Crucially, though, by 2018, Parsons had spent so much time working on his mindset that the injury “didn’t really rock me as much as it could have.”
ADVERTISEMENT That doctor’s blunt message was “just medical opinion.”
Ray Moran, his surgeon at the Sports Surgery Clinic in Santry, delivered no such warnings that he would never play again – and Parsons never asked.
“There were two major surgeries after that,” he explains. “Reconstructing one side of my knee, which was reattaching the calf muscle called the popliteus, and taking a piece from my hamstring and reconstructing the lateral ligament. Then the second surgery was to take a piece of my quad to reconstruct my ACL, and then to get a cadaver’s Achilles in from the States to reconstruct my PCL.
“You only have four (ligaments) and three of mine were completely gone, and then the calf muscle was ripped away from the bone. On top of that you had grade two scars, tears and hamstrings and stuff, so there wasn’t much left.”
For seven months his leg was in a brace, leaving him unable to work in his old role. But he is a big believer that “setbacks give you opportunities” and his employers facilitated a move from hard engineering and project management into a “cultural and people role” in the same company.
For the past 12 months he has been working on an exciting project, a free mental health checking tool called One Million Lives (oml.world).
“The GPA and other sporting organisations are partnering with Jacobs on this initiative, and to date we have 10,000 mental health check-ins, which is amazing,” he enthuses.
ADVERTISEMENT “The reason I’m passionate to get it out there is so many of us, including sports people but even in society, regularly have physical checks with our GPs or medical professionals or we might get our bloods done, but so few of us have ever had a mental health check. It’s completely confidential and gives you fantastic feedback on where your mind is at.”
Meanwhile, 15 months on from the injury, Parsons the footballer made his competitive return – against the Dubs, who else, against another full-house backdrop.
Con O’Callaghan had already dragged that semi-final away from Mayo but, as Parsons relates, “James Horan doesn’t do sentimental, unfortunately!” and his goal while warming up was very much on getting Mayo to the final. But just before he came on, Brian Fenton scored Dublin’s third goal. “So at the end of that game I wasn’t on cloud nine; I was really disappointed.”
His swansong year, bedevilled by Covid and then a fractured foot shortly before Mayo’s swashbuckling league resumption against Galway in October, contained its share of frustrations.
He made it back on the pitch, as a semi-final sub against Tipperary, but stayed in his Hogan Stand seat as one last All-Ireland dream died against Dublin.
Regrets, surely?
“It was worth every bit of it,” he counters. “What percentage of the population gets to experience 80,000 people in Croke Park during the summer months? It’s just an experience that money can’t buy you.
“They’re just memories and emotions I’ll treasure ... you’re playing in those big games, you have this overwhelming feeling of being alive, you’re testing your body and your mind, you’re putting everything on the line for your team. What an incredible experience.
ADVERTISEMENT “I wouldn’t swap it. For me, I think of all the good days out and the journeys and the relationships that we’ve had with people all over the country.
“That’s the contract you sign when you get into sport; there’s no guarantees, there’s ups and downs, you can only control what’s in your control and make peace with the finished outcome. And for me, the finished outcome is without an All-Ireland medal but I’ve certainly made peace with that.”
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Post by Mickmack on Aug 21, 2021 17:42:28 GMT
I understand that the Dublin players has a post match drinking session on Sunday. Cluxton turned up. Unlike him to do so.
I predict the move against Dessie has begun. I predict he will be gone soon enough.
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Post by Mickmack on Aug 22, 2021 9:55:52 GMT
Jim McGuinness
Our eyes did not deceive us. Last Saturday we spoke here about the suspicion of new vulnerabilities within the Dublin team. That night, we got our answer in spectacular fashion.
The tell-tale signs of Dublin’s decline were there. But they weren’t obvious. Their weaknesses were contained within the underbelly of the team. The explanation for their defeat is not down to physical or technical decline. I believe Dublin still have speed, strength and aggression and skill in abundance.
In fact, I thought Dublin’s older players like Mick Fitzsimons and James McCarthy were still exceptional in their lung-busting, covering runs in the second half as Dublin fought to keep control of the night. But those signs of deteriorating collective power against Wexford and Meath and Kildare were mercilessly exposed by Mayo over the last 15 minutes of normal time. By extra-time, Dublin were all out of reserves. It’s a reverse process: gradual decline and then a sudden fall.
If they had met a more cautious team, Dublin might have limped and managed their way to another final. What Saturday required was a team prepared to ask the hard questions. Enter Mayo. Dublin scored 0-4 from half-time to the end of extra-time. That is the story in the nutshell.
People said afterwards that it was incredible to see their scoring rate stall. But it was entirely credible. Their kick-out came under pressure. It started to implode. After that, everything fell apart. You have to wonder where Stephen Cluxton’s thoughts are this week. Would he have been able to keep Dublin together? Would he have been able to find the open man with one of those pinging restarts to the wing to just keep Mayo at bay? And what now? He hasn’t said he is retired. Will he return next year?
There was a clear discipline issue as Dublin surrendered their crown. They became very aggressive and there was a cynical nature to their play and a dangerous element also. We were behind the tackle on Eoghan McLaughlin by John Small and it was bad. He wanted to hit the Mayo player as hard as he could and it was high. It was shoulder to head. It was shoulder to chin. It was the worst of a series of incidents. There were high tackles around the neck and hand trips and people being dragged down. 0
In a way, that didn’t surprise me either. When the wheels start to come off, people do things they don’t normally do. All of that wildness came out because they had to find another way.
Remember: Dublin were disciplined in the first half. When they had those protracted periods of possession, they had Mayo where they wanted them. When they ended up inside the final third with the ball, they created a box of space by leaving two of three players inside the 14, another two or three outside the 45 and then a few receivers along the flank.
So if you can visualise a box of Dublin players of 40x50 metres around the Mayo defensive shape, you can picture what they were trying to do. And they were quite happy with that, keeping the ball out of contact and looking to exploit the space and make lateral runs and make a scissor pass for the receiving player to pop over the bar – 0-10 to 0-3 and looking assured: it was an excellent strategy. But when Mayo turned up the heat, Dublin forwards stopped stepping up. It became messy. It was a far cry from Niall Scully putting his hand up to initiate the start of a new play.
I know the impact of the bench has been well covered. That famous Dublin bench is no longer there. For me, that is not the full story. For me, the important part of the equation is that the players on the pitch know that those reserves aren’t there. When you have Diarmuid Connolly or Michael Darragh MacAuley biting at your heels, it keeps you fresh and motivated and sharp. But who was there to truly threaten those Dublin starters? That very deep level of responsibility was diluted. So by extra-time, we were witnessing two things at once: the making of Mayo and an historic team in freefall.
What of Mayo? Here they were, missing Cillian O’Connor, the man who was responsible for 50 per cent of their scores last year and their best player of this year, Oisín Mullin. To many, those absences meant that they didn’t have a chance.
There is one reason why they were able to overcome those losses: James Horan. He has done an astounding job with this Mayo squad. His chief achievement is that he has instilled a belief system that is absolute. This group believes they can – no, will – win every game. They believe in themselves with an intensity that is formidable. They believe they can survive those individual losses with togetherness.
You could see it after McLaughlin left the field. Eoghan gave Mayo huge forward thrust and aggression. They lose him and what happens to the group? They actually grow stronger. James made the decision to take Aidan O’Shea off after 48 minutes. It was a big moment. When the spiritual leader isn’t firing and he is removed at a critical point in the game, that forces everyone else to accept the responsibility.
The others realised that it was on them to make this happen. And guys like Tommy Conroy and Ryan O’Donoghue very quickly started to play brilliantly. Also, Pádraig O’Hora, Enda Hession and Lee Keegan were absolutely in the ears of the Dublin forwards. We could see it from our seats in the studio. The real battle was won when the ball was elsewhere. They were dominating their players physically when the ball was at the other end of the field.
Dublin’s Colm Basquel shots wide under pressure from Mayo goalkeeper Rob Hennelly. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho Dublin’s Colm Basquel shots wide under pressure from Mayo goalkeeper Rob Hennelly. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho Those three guys created a platform for attack because they had the work done before the ball even arrived. Whatever the message from the manager was, it sent them into battle with incredible focus. And Rob Hennelly had a day of redemption really. I think everyone in the stadium admired what he did with that season-saving kick. Perseverance is everything in sport.
And how Mayo persevere! They were two different man-of-the-match awards on Saturday. Young O’Hora said it was one of the best days of his life. Keegan was also beaming – with a but. The senior player knows that this mission has not been completed. And that senior brigade became grounded again very quickly after the event.
Mayo did not play to their potential here for a long time. You can interpret this in two ways. Either they didn’t hit their potential for an hour and still beat the unbeatable. Or: if they repeat that in the final, the opposition team will be out of sight by the time they hit stride. Either way, it was a seismic evening of football. The sky has cleared – maybe.
Is there a big change in football coming, where the Sam Maguire will begin touring the counties again? Or will Kerry merely slip into Dublin’s place and initiate a new period of dominance? They are posting the kind of frightening scores this summer that look familiar.
If Dublin hadn’t lost in 2014, they would most likely have eight All-Irelands in-a- row. It has been a long, long period of dominance. I don’t believe they are going to disappear. I don’t. But they have reached a crossroads. It is not just about Dessie Farrell or the players: it is also about the top brass in Dublin football. The key question for Dublin now is how they respond to the sight of another team lifting the cup they have owned for most of a decade.
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Post by john4 on Aug 29, 2021 14:23:13 GMT
www.gaa.ie/news/sky-sports-announce-2021-gaa-championship-fixtures/Sky sports have announced their 2021 gaa fixtures. Not good news for Kerry fans as the game vs Clare and the potential semi final against Tipperary will be broadcast behind the paywall. I believe this will only be the third (and maybe fourth if we beat Clare) time since sky acquired gaa rights in 2014 that a kerry game will be shown exclusively on Sky Sports, Super 8's third round games in 2018 and 2019 being the other two times. 2021 Live GAA Championship matches on Sky Sports June 26: Sligo vs Mayo (F), Kerry vs Clare (F) July 3: Galway vs Dublin/Antrim (H), Kilkenny vs Wexford/Laois (H), Limerick vs Cork (H) July 10: Tyrone vs Cavan (F), Tipperary vs Kerry/Clare (F) July 17: Qualifier Round 1 (H), Ulster semi-final (F) July 24: Qualifier Round 2 (H), Qualifier Round 2 (H) July 31: All-Ireland quarter-final (H) August 7: All-Ireland semi-final (H) August 8: All-Ireland semi-final (H) August 14: All-Ireland semi-final (F) August 15: All-Ireland semi-final (F) August 22: All-Ireland final (H) August 29All-Ireland final (F) The All Ireland final will be a non kirry game…… AGAIN 😂 Dinny, your like a lad with a beer belly laughing at the guy who finished 3rd in the Olympics. Buy a mirror lad 🤣
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Post by dc84 on Aug 29, 2021 14:28:37 GMT
The All Ireland final will be a non kirry game…… AGAIN 😂 Dinny, your like a lad with a beer belly laughing at the guy who finished 3rd in the Olympics. Buy a mirror lad 🤣 Why even bother with him ? And he from cork lols the most underperforming county in gaa in both codes they will be lucky to be in the all ireland if it goes to 16.
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Post by gaelicden on Aug 29, 2021 14:48:05 GMT
Dinny, your like a lad with a beer belly laughing at the guy who finished 3rd in the Olympics. Buy a mirror lad 🤣 Why even bother with him ? And he from cork lols the most underperforming county in gaa in both codes they will be lucky to be in the all ireland if it goes to 16. Reminds me of a few beer bellied lads I met in a pub in Millstreet a few years ago. Very concerned about Kerry's championship prospects rather than their own footballers or Hurlers. West Cork folk, pure Kerrymen at heart ❤️😂😂.
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Post by glengael on Aug 30, 2021 11:42:40 GMT
I wonder how Mayo will approach this ? They'll be wearing the favourites tag I think, whether they like it or not.
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Post by gaelicden on Aug 30, 2021 12:51:08 GMT
I wonder how Mayo will approach this ? They'll be wearing the favourites tag I think, whether they like it or not. Historically, Mayo have done alright against Tyrone with championship wins in 1989, 2004, 2013 & 2016. Tyrone beat them in 2008 on their way to title number 3. Tyrone also have the most recent advantage over Mayo, beating them last October by a point (3-14 v 1-19) to relegate Mayo from Division 1 of the league. Its two teams with 3 all Ireland's each, with one county heading for 4 at around 6:40pm on September 11th. It's a novel final pairing so the historical form book I've presented goes out the window. The main thing I suppose is that they haven't played each other competitively this year, so there shouldn't be any baggage going into the game so it's an intriguing match. Mayo are favourites, but only because they dethroned the 6 in a row champions. If Tyrone had beaten Dublin, the odds would be turned around. You can justify the favourites tag by saying how arguably Mayo have been closest to Dublin throughout the 2010s, it feels like a procession at this stage that they'll finally reach the holy grail (Kind of like Cork in 2010 having lost to only Kerry between 2005 and 2009). Tactically, the Mayo defence should be much tougher on the Tyrone attack. However like Kerry, they are very prone to conceding goals; 2 goals conceded against Galway and while none were conceded in the Semi Final, Dublin did miss 1 guilt edge chance in the second half. If that had gone in, we're talking about Tyrone trying to stop 7 in a row today. The main thing to take from the Semi Final is Mayo won without scoring goals either. Just 17 points were required but they knew where to score them, and they could score them from long range. Tyrone scored 14 points against Kerry, it was the 3 goals that killed us ultimately. Both of these were after Extra time as well. Mayo and Tyrone will bring bring ferocious intensity to the game, it won't be a game of fancy (nice) football. It could be a tactical change from the sideline that might tip the scales. If anything, 15/16 points might be enough to win it. Who will win it though? If Mayo start the final with means to go, keep the defence tight and take their points when offered, then experience will get them over the line. For Tyrone, never write them off (like 2008). There's potentials to get goals against the Mayo defence and if they can frustrate the attack and be there or there abouts going into the final stretch then there is always a chance. Personally I felt that if the final was Kerry vs Mayo, Kerry would win. If it was Tyrone vs Mayo, Mayo would win and I still think this is Mayo's All Ireland to lose.
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Post by Ballyfireside on Aug 30, 2021 17:04:21 GMT
I wonder how Mayo will approach this ? They'll be wearing the favourites tag I think, whether they like it or not. Historically, Mayo have done alright against Tyrone with championship wins in 1989, 2004, 2013 & 2016. Tyrone beat them in 2008 on their way to title number 3. Tyrone also have the most recent advantage over Mayo, beating them last October by a point (3-14 v 1-19) to relegate Mayo from Division 1 of the league. Its two teams with 3 all Ireland's each, with one county heading for 4 at around 6:40pm on September 11th. It's a novel final pairing so the historical form book I've presented goes out the window. The main thing I suppose is that they haven't played each other competitively this year, so there shouldn't be any baggage going into the game so it's an intriguing match. Mayo are favourites, but only because they dethroned the 6 in a row champions. If Tyrone had beaten Dublin, the odds would be turned around. You can justify the favourites tag by saying how arguably Mayo have been closest to Dublin throughout the 2010s, it feels like a procession at this stage that they'll finally reach the holy grail (Kind of like Cork in 2010 having lost to only Kerry between 2005 and 2009). Tactically, the Mayo defence should be much tougher on the Tyrone attack. However like Kerry, they are very prone to conceding goals; 2 goals conceded against Galway and while none were conceded in the Semi Final, Dublin did miss 1 guilt edge chance in the second half. If that had gone in, we're talking about Tyrone trying to stop 7 in a row today. The main thing to take from the Semi Final is Mayo won without scoring goals either. Just 17 points were required but they knew where to score them, and they could score them from long range. Tyrone scored 14 points against Kerry, it was the 3 goals that killed us ultimately. Both of these were after Extra time as well. Mayo and Tyrone will bring bring ferocious intensity to the game, it won't be a game of fancy (nice) football. It could be a tactical change from the sideline that might tip the scales. If anything, 15/16 points might be enough to win it. Who will win it though? If Mayo start the final with means to go, keep the defence tight and take their points when offered, then experience will get them over the line. For Tyrone, never write them off (like 2008). There's potentials to get goals against the Mayo defence and if they can frustrate the attack and be there or there abouts going into the final stretch then there is always a chance. Personally I felt that if the final was Kerry vs Mayo, Kerry would win. If it was Tyrone vs Mayo, Mayo would win and I still think this is Mayo's All Ireland to lose. Both got there by taking down wilting favourites, too close to call, will be on the day, hearts will be with Mayo but Tyrone could grind 'em down. I (only half jokingly) warned that statistically there would be 1 upset from the semis on, and was duly ignored. So far we had 2 upsets, major upsets, what with extra times. Though either outcome in final will hardly be an upset - Mayo are bookie favs but is that hearts having a punt? Would be a massive boost for the GAA is Maigh Eo finally did it, I was anticipating the game of my life of us v Garda county and where after taking the Dubs they would feel they could bury us. Funny thing was I wouldn't feel so bad if they did if only because whatever else, Mayo will always give you a football match, all down the years they have entertained to no end but with nothing much to show for it. Let's hope the final is not a dour affair like Sat and the match-ups and tactics will be interesting - deep down I fear for Mayo but maybe they will surprise, and as they are favs maybe better judges believe their time has come. Happy days in both counties now, probably the most anticipated in a decade, what with the two favs relegated to their couches. A Mayo laddo slagging me off this morning said I could apply for membership of The Defeated GAA Supporters Club, I asked him could he would lend me his membership card that would do for temporary membership?
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Post by Annascaultilidie on Aug 30, 2021 19:54:44 GMT
If it wasn't Mayo you would say that like Kerry and Donegal in 2014 Mayo are forearmed of what Tyrone could bring.
When it comes to Mayo, logic doesn't come into it though.
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Post by glengael on Sept 1, 2021 8:47:42 GMT
Yes I was thinking, logic isn't a factor at all.
Mayo remind me of the old saying supposedly from a Hollywood studio boss about Errol Flynn (Google him ye young people). "He was very reliable, rely on him and he'd always let you down".
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Post by Ballyfireside on Sept 1, 2021 14:43:22 GMT
On a lighter note, or not, I recall a Mayo bucko saying they didn't claim Samuel on a few occasions because they wanted to kill two birdies with the wan stone and break their 70 year record by beating us at the same time,
All I'll say is, careful what you wish for, better win a bad wan, don't be too greedy, one step at the time, walk aisy when the glass is full - ah heart with Maigh Eo and the head will foolishly predict the winner in due course like every other egotistical GAA fanatic on here.
And here was I thinking I was Fionn Mac Cumhaill in saying there may be one upset when we got down to the last 4 - ah maybe 'twas that auld tinned salmon, nothing like the fresh stuff that tightened the lines ar an céad lá of the fishing season. But sure that's gone now and all we have is synthetic food fed on plastic from the sea bed and sure doesn't that tell the future in it's own way - where we are headed in terms of knocking the planet off the hinges. Now there's a new meaning to the term 'salmon of knowledge', salmon of ignorance more like it.
Is this is Maigh Eo's 10th AI final in 70 years?
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Post by glengael on Sept 1, 2021 16:22:29 GMT
Joe Mc Quillan is the ref for the Big Day.....
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exiled
Senior Member
Posts: 308
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Post by exiled on Sept 1, 2021 16:33:49 GMT
Joe Mc Quillan is the ref for the Big Day..... Dublin Joe always get the job when the powers that be need a result to suit their narrative. Who have they decided on.
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Post by Annascaultilidie on Sept 1, 2021 16:38:33 GMT
Chrisht ye're fierce cynical altogether
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exiled
Senior Member
Posts: 308
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Post by exiled on Sept 1, 2021 16:53:32 GMT
Chrisht ye're fierce cynical altogether It comes from experience..
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Post by southward on Sept 1, 2021 23:21:52 GMT
Joe Mc Quillan is the ref for the Big Day..... Dublin Joe always get the job when the powers that be need a result to suit their narrative. Who have they decided on. Was that him refereeing Portugal v Ireland tonight?
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Post by dc84 on Sept 2, 2021 7:34:56 GMT
Dublin Joe always get the job when the powers that be need a result to suit their narrative. Who have they decided on. Was that him refereeing Portugal v Ireland tonight? No that was his cousin portugal jose
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Post by Kerryman Randy Savage on Sept 2, 2021 9:14:10 GMT
Joe Mc Quillan is the ref for the Big Day..... If this absolute clam is getting the gig 4 times in 10 years,you need a root and branch review of why the standard of officiating is so poor. Dublin Joe 🙈. Some team is getting rode in the final.
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Post by Mickmack on Sept 2, 2021 12:37:56 GMT
Every game takes on a life of its own the final could be very different I think Tyrone might want a more open game as their forwards are better than mayos. I'm not sure that the same tactics will work there will be no open gate down the middle to Nick goals with Mullins o hora keegan Durcan etc. I'd say it will be low scoring but I fancy mayo they won't be physically bullied like we were thats for sure I fancy Mayo heavily for two reasons, 1) their backs are outstanding and love to defend first and then attack, 2) Mayo are the one side who aren't obsessed like all the rest at running into the scoring zone around the D - they have the balls to regularly take on a shot from distance and the kickers to do it - if you want to get a ball around a wall then shoot over it. They have the right mindset - better to take a shot on and see it go wide than get turned over like our fellas. Tyrone showed a lot of battling qualities reminiscent of the Tyrone teams of old (Mayo can match it) but the Tyrone forwards are no world-beaters and have no where near the quality of their noughties era. I find this very hard to call but i cant wait Things that strike my head; Tyrone wont expect Mayo to do what Kerry did attack wise so Tyrone may approach the game differently. In other words, they wont expect to win just on turnovers. McShane will probably be 100% fit and he plus Darragh Canavan given them a stronger scoring threat that up to now. Tyrone probably peaked v Kerry. Mayo didnt play well for the full 70 mins v Dublin so they may peak for the final Have Mayo enough forwards to kick points from distance Hennelly or Morgan can kick and miss many long ones. One of them could have an off day. Hennelly has not played well in a final yet. Tyrone will want the two O'Sheas to play as its too easy to strip them of possession Cillian O'Connor is reportedly back training
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Post by hatchetman on Sept 2, 2021 13:06:29 GMT
"Tyrone will want the two O'Sheas to play as its too easy to strip them of possession" - Seamus has retired.
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Post by southward on Sept 2, 2021 13:10:59 GMT
Joe Mc Quillan is the ref for the Big Day..... If this absolute clam is getting the gig 4 times in 10 years,you need a root and branch review of why the standard of officiating is so poor. Dublin Joe 🙈. Some team is getting rode in the final. Tyrone getting measured up for the saddle, I'd say.
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Post by Mickmack on Sept 2, 2021 13:41:11 GMT
"Tyrone will want the two O'Sheas to play as its too easy to strip them of possession" - Seamus has retired. Aiden and Conor
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Post by dc84 on Sept 2, 2021 13:55:29 GMT
"Tyrone will want the two O'Sheas to play as its too easy to strip them of possession" - Seamus has retired. Aiden and Conor Conor hardly will , Aidan is a fair man to strip possession himself
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Post by sullyschoice on Sept 2, 2021 21:32:54 GMT
I was informed yesterday that Eoin Mc Loughlin is back training. He better wear a helmet
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Post by veteran on Sept 3, 2021 8:24:10 GMT
I was informed yesterday that Eoin Mc Loughlin is back training. He better wear a helmet Surely medical sense will prevail and Eoghan will not be allowed play in the final.
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